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Select Committee · Public Accounts Committee

Investigation into whistleblowing in the civil service

Status: Closed Opened: 10 Jan 2024 Closed: 28 May 2024 6 recommendations 18 conclusions 1 report

There continue to be issues with how whistleblowers can raise concerns in Government, as highlighted by both the Committee on Standards in Public Life in 2023 and the Boardman Review into the development and use of supply chain finance in Government in 2021 . The Committee’s 2014 and 2016 whistleblowing reports found that a lack …

Clear

Reports

1 report
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation into whistleblowing in … HC 457 25 May 2024 24 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

3 items
20 Recommendation Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation int… Accepted in Part

Good whistleblowing practices exist but are not consistently shared across civil service departments.

There are some examples of good practice across the civil service when it comes to whistleblowing processes, but they are not always shared between departments and agencies. For example, HMRC has ‘help cards’ to improve the quality of information on concerns raised anonymously and DWP has multiple routes for raising …

Government response. The Cabinet Office will build on existing work to share insight and best practice, work with organizations that have a mature model and explore how the experience to maturity can be shared across government and explore the development of a …
HM Treasury
22 Recommendation Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation int… Accepted in Part

Cabinet Office has scope to do more to actively surface and share whistleblowing best practices.

The Cabinet Office said it could play a role in collating information across the civil service and share back what works well and what departments can do more of.56 For example, the NAO reported that some departments do not have a whistleblowing hotline,57 despite more than 80% of concerns raised …

Government response. The Cabinet Office will build on existing work to share insight and best practice, work with organizations that have a mature model and explore how the experience to maturity can be shared across government and explore the development of a …
HM Treasury
24 Recommendation Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation int… Accepted in Part

Larger departments should provide more support and expertise to smaller agencies on whistleblowing.

We were interested to hear from departments on any improvements that they think can be made in terms of how they can help maintain a high standard of whistleblowing across the civil service. DWP suggested that large departments have a responsibility, as they are better resourced and have more expertise, …

Government response. The Cabinet Office will build on existing work to share insight and best practice, work with organizations that have a mature model and explore how the experience to maturity can be shared across government and explore the development of a …
HM Treasury

Oral evidence sessions

1 session
Date Witnesses
17 Apr 2024 Esther Wallington · HM Revenue and Customs, Fiona Ryland · Cabinet Office, Helen Pickles · Department for Work and Pensions, Matthew Davies · Cabinet Office View ↗

Correspondence

1 letter
DateDirectionTitle
29 Apr 2024 — Correspondence from Jim Harra, Chief Executive and First Permanent Secretary, H…